# 1977 Kansas City Royals season

The 1977 Kansas City Royals season was their ninth in Major League Baseball. The Royals' franchise-best 102–60 record led the majors and Kansas City won its second consecutive American League West title. Once again, the Royals lost to the New York Yankees in the postseason, falling 3–2 in the ALCS. Hal McRae led the American League in doubles, with 54. Al Cowens set a franchise single-season record with 112 runs batted in.

## Offseason

* November 5, 1976: Ruppert Jones was drafted from the Royals by the Seattle Mariners with the first pick in the 1976 Major League Baseball expansion draft.
* December 6, 1976: Jamie Quirk, Jim Wohlford and a player to be named later were traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter. The Kansas City Royals completed the trade by sending Bob McClure to the Brewers on March 15, 1977.
* December 7, 1976: Frank Ortenzio was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Rudy Kinard (minors).

## Regular season
### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Kansas City Royals | 102 | 60 | .630 | — | 55‍–‍26 | 47‍–‍34 |
| Texas Rangers | 94 | 68 | .580 | 8 | 44‍–‍37 | 50‍–‍31 |
| Chicago White Sox | 90 | 72 | .556 | 12 | 48‍–‍33 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Minnesota Twins | 84 | 77 | .522 | 17½ | 48‍–‍32 | 36‍–‍45 |
| California Angels | 74 | 88 | .457 | 28 | 39‍–‍42 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Seattle Mariners | 64 | 98 | .395 | 38 | 29‍–‍52 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Oakland Athletics | 63 | 98 | .391 | 38½ | 35‍–‍46 | 28‍–‍52 |

### Record vs. opponents

1977 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 6–8 | 5–6 | 5–5 | 11–4 | 12–3 | 4–7 | 11–4 | 6–4 | 8–7 | 8–2 | 7–3 | 4–6 | 10–5 |
| Boston | 8–6 | — | 7–3 | 3–7 | 8–7 | 9–6 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 4–6 | 8–7 | 8–3 | 10–1 | 6–4 | 12–3 |
| California | 6–5 | 3–7 | — | 8–7 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 6–9 | 5–5 | 7–8 | 4–7 | 5–10 | 9–6 | 5–10 | 6–4 |
| Chicago | 5–5 | 7–3 | 7–8 | — | 6–4 | 4–6 | 8–7 | 6–5 | 10–5 | 3–7 | 10–5 | 10–5 | 6–9 | 8–3 |
| Cleveland | 4–11 | 7–8 | 4–6 | 4–6 | — | 8–7 | 3–7 | 11–4 | 2–9 | 3–12 | 7–3 | 7–3 | 2–9 | 9–5 |
| Detroit | 3–12 | 6–9 | 6–4 | 6–4 | 7–8 | — | 3–8 | 10–5 | 5–5 | 6–9 | 5–5 | 5–6 | 2–8 | 10–5 |
| Kansas City | 7–4 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 7–8 | 7–3 | 8–3 | — | 8–2 | 10–5 | 5–5 | 9–6 | 11–4 | 8–7 | 8–2 |
| Milwaukee | 4–11 | 6–9 | 5–5 | 5–6 | 4–11 | 5–10 | 2–8 | — | 3–8 | 8–7 | 5–5 | 7–3 | 5–5 | 8–7 |
| Minnesota | 4–6 | 6–4 | 8–7 | 5–10 | 9–2 | 5–5 | 5–10 | 8–3 | — | 2–8 | 8–6 | 7–8 | 8–7 | 9–1 |
| New York | 7–8 | 7–8 | 7–4 | 7–3 | 12–3 | 9–6 | 5–5 | 7–8 | 8–2 | — | 9–2 | 6–4 | 7–3 | 9–6 |
| Oakland | 2–8 | 3–8 | 10–5 | 5–10 | 3–7 | 5–5 | 6–9 | 5–5 | 6–8 | 2–9 | — | 7–8 | 2–13 | 7–3 |
| Seattle | 3–7 | 1–10 | 6–9 | 5–10 | 3–7 | 6–5 | 4–11 | 3–7 | 8–7 | 4–6 | 8–7 | — | 9–6 | 4–6 |
| Texas | 6–4 | 4–6 | 10–5 | 9–6 | 9–2 | 8–2 | 7–8 | 5–5 | 7–8 | 3–7 | 13–2 | 6–9 | — | 7–4 |
| Toronto | 5–10 | 3–12 | 4–6 | 3–8 | 5–9 | 5–10 | 2–8 | 7–8 | 1–9 | 6–9 | 3–7 | 6–4 | 4–7 | — |

### Opening Day starters

* George Brett
* Al Cowens
* Pete LaCock
* John Mayberry
* Hal McRae
* Amos Otis
* Freddie Patek
* Darrell Porter
* Paul Splittorff
* Frank White

### Notable transactions

* May 27, 1977: Tim Ireland was signed as a free agent by the Royals.

### Roster
## Game log
### Postseason Game log

1977 Postseason game log: 2–3 (Home: 1–2; Away: 1–1) :
AL Championship Series: vs. New York Yankees 2–3 (Home: 1–2; Away: 1–1)
#DateTime (CT)OpponentScoreWinLossSaveTime of GameAttendanceSeriesBox/ Streak
1October 52:15 p.m. CDT@ YankeesW 7–2Splittorff (1–0)Gullett (0–1)—2:4054,930KC 1–0W1
2October 67:15 p.m. CDT@ YankeesL 2–6Guidry (1–0)Hassler (0–1)—2:5856,230Tied 1–1L1
3October 77:15 p.m. CDTYankeesW 6–2Leonard (1–0)Torrez (0–1)—2:1941,285KC 2–1W1
4October 812:15 p.m. CDTYankeesL 4–6Lyle (1–0)Gura (0–1)—3:0841,135Tied 2–2L1
5October 97:15 p.m. CDTYankeesL 3–5Lyle (2–0)Leonard (1–1)—3:0441,133NYY 3–2L2 :
Legend:        = Win        = Loss      Bold = Royals team member :

## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Darrell Porter | 130 | 425 | 117 | .275 | 16 | 60 |
| 1B | John Mayberry | 153 | 543 | 125 | .230 | 23 | 82 |
| 2B | Frank White | 152 | 474 | 116 | .245 | 5 | 50 |
| 3B | George Brett | 139 | 564 | 176 | .312 | 22 | 88 |
| SS | Freddie Patek | 154 | 497 | 130 | .262 | 5 | 60 |
| LF | Tom Poquette | 106 | 342 | 100 | .292 | 2 | 33 |
| CF | Amos Otis | 142 | 478 | 120 | .251 | 17 | 78 |
| RF | Al Cowens | 162 | 606 | 189 | .312 | 23 | 112 |
| DH | Hal McRae | 162 | 641 | 191 | .298 | 21 | 92 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Pete LaCock | 88 | 218 | 66 | .303 | 3 | 29 |
| Joe Zdeb | 105 | 195 | 58 | .297 | 2 | 23 |
| Cookie Rojas | 64 | 156 | 39 | .250 | 0 | 10 |
| John Wathan | 55 | 119 | 39 | .328 | 2 | 21 |
| Buck Martinez | 29 | 80 | 18 | .225 | 1 | 9 |
| Joe Lahoud | 34 | 65 | 17 | .262 | 2 | 8 |
| Bob Heise | 54 | 62 | 16 | .258 | 0 | 5 |
| Dave Nelson | 27 | 48 | 9 | .188 | 0 | 4 |
| Willie Wilson | 13 | 34 | 11 | .324 | 0 | 1 |
| U L Washington | 10 | 20 | 4 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Clint Hurdle | 9 | 26 | 8 | .308 | 2 | 7 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Dennis Leonard | 38 | 292.2 | 20 | 12 | 3.04 | 244 |
| Jim Colborn | 36 | 239.0 | 18 | 14 | 3.62 | 103 |
| Paul Splittorff | 37 | 229.0 | 16 | 6 | 3.69 | 99 |
| Andy Hassler | 29 | 156.1 | 9 | 6 | 4.20 | 83 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Marty Pattin | 31 | 128.1 | 10 | 13 | 3.58 | 55 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Doug Bird | 53 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 3.88 | 83 |
| Larry Gura | 52 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 3.13 | 46 |
| Mark Littell | 48 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 3.58 | 55 |
| Steve Mingori | 43 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3.09 | 19 |
| Tom Hall | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.52 | 10 |
| George Throop | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.38 | 1 |
| Randy McGilberry | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5.14 | 1 |
| Gary Lance | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.50 | 0 |

## Other events

Before they were to play a game on June 12 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Milwaukee County Stadium, thieves stole gloves and uniforms belonging to Royals players. Due to this, all but seven Kansas City Royals players had to wear Milwaukee road uniforms for the game played that day.

## ALCS
### Game 1

October 5: Yankee Stadium, New York City
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kansas City | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
| W: Paul Splittorff (1–0) L: Don Gullett (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: KC – Hal McRae (1), John Mayberry (1), Al Cowens (1) NYY – Thurman Munson (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 2

October 6: Yankee Stadium, New York City
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| W: Ron Guidry (1–0) L: Andy Hassler (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: KC – none; NYY – Cliff Johnson (1) |||||||||||||

### Game 3

October 7: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Kansas City | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | X | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| W: Dennis Leonard (1–0) L: Mike Torrez (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: NYY – none; KC – none |||||||||||||

### Game 4

October 8: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| W: Sparky Lyle (1–0) L: Larry Gura (0–1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: NYY – none; KC – none |||||||||||||

### Game 5

October 9: Royals Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| New York | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 0 |
| Kansas City | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 1 |
| W: Sparky Lyle (2–0) L: Dennis Leonard (1–1) |||||||||||||
| HRs: NYY – none; KC – none |||||||||||||

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | American Association | John Sullivan |
| AA | Jacksonville Suns | Southern League | Gordon Mackenzie |
| A | Daytona Beach Islanders | Florida State League | José Martínez |
| Rookie | GCL Royals | Gulf Coast League | Bill Scripture |